Short breaks in London with a show are a great choice for mid-week or weekend holidays. Here are my top 3 recommendations for shows this coming Spring.  Couples who just want to see a show as part of a trip to London, perhaps as part of a special occasion have lots of choice when it comes to shows and things to do.  London is a great place for  short breaks and there is a lot for couples to do and see. There are all the art galleries, lots of classy shops and, of course, the sights of London. That’s the thing about the capital it’s still fun even if you’ve seen it all before.

When you are choosing the show for your short break I’ve got three top recommendations for you at the moment.

Choose Your Show

Les Miserables

In your position I’d go for Les Miserables as a first choice. Tickets have got a little bit trickier to get hold of due to the SuBo effect but the theatre break agencies still have plenty of availability. If you can be flexible about your dates and can travel mid-week there are some brilliant deals for Les Miz. Traveling mid-week also gives you a good choice of 3* and 4* hotels at very reasonable rates.  Les Miserables is one of the longest running shows but it still remains one of the best. People always seem to enjoy it and it still seems as fresh as it ever was.

Dress Code: best frock or jeans, this is London – no one cares!

Hair

However if semi-classical score is not to your taste you could try revisiting the 60s and trying something brand new but re-cycled. Hair is coming to the West End in April and it’s going to be huge. This is the full Broadway revival production, all singing, all dancing, full of colour, life and energy, just like time traveling back to those days. They say if you remember the 60s you weren’t there but Hair is all that you might have missed and more. There is flower power, hippies and The Age of Aquarius, not to mention a bit of nudity and other, rather innocent naughtiness! Dress code: Afghan waistcoats, bell bottoms and patchouli (only kidding!). Though it might not be a bad choice of costume if you want to join in with the onstage party at the end of the show:

Jersey Boys

Maybe  Jersey Boys is more your scene, sing along as you watch the story of Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons unfold. Walk Like a Man, Sherry Baby, and a host of other tunes you’ll enjoy discovering you still know all the words to are woven into the story of five young lads from New Jersey.

Dress code: Very snazzy Trilby hats available in the foyer of the theatre

So there you are three top shows to choose from, all of them ideal to fit in with your short breaks in London with a show.

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Ruthie Rocks in Chicago

Want to earn some extra brownie points with your significant other? How about a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend in London with tickets for a great show and a night in a charming hotel? It costs less than you might think!

Chicago makes a great choice for Valentine’s Day theatre breaks. It’s such a fun, sexy show with moments of real romance and just enough raunchiness to keep everyone in that special mood! I just happen to know that a couple of the theatre break agencies still have tickets so get them while you still can!

Ruthie Henshall Plays Roxy in Chicago London

One of the best reasons to see Chicago at the moment, is that West End superstar Ruthie Henshall is playing Roxy. She’s played the part when the show opened and it’s lovely to see her back on the West End stage. She’s doing a strictly limited run and it will finish on February 28th.

The performance is just stunning  have a listen to this:

Chicago London Facts and Figures

• Chicago is the longest running Broadway musical on the West End. In London it has played to an audience of over 4.5 million people and more than 4,000 performances. The musical transferred from the Adelphi Theatre to the Cambridge Theatre in April last year.
• After it opened almost 10 years ago at the Adelphi Theatre the show won the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Musical Production’ and the 1998 Critics Circle Drama Award for ‘Best Musical’.
• Based on a play by Maurine Dallas Watkins with a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse. The music is by John Kander and the lyrics by Fred Ebb. The West End production is staged by the original Broadway creative team.

How to get there

Cambridge Theatre is on Earlham Street, London, WC2 9HU It’s in the area near Covent Garden now known as Seven Dials. Don’t try to get there via Covent Garden tube as it’s currently partially closed! Walk from Tottenham Court Rd, if you have to use the tube, or Charing Cross station if you can get a train.

Theatre Breaks - Covent Garden

Alternatively try to make sure you get a hotel within easy walking distance of the Covent Garden area. Actually that’s good advice anyway as the area is great .

There are lots of yummy shops to browse, a Sunday Market, cafes and restaurants to have a leisurely lunch, it’s one of my favourite areas of London. There is always lots going on in the area and you can just wander round or be amused by the constantly changing street performances.

That makes it the perfect romantic area for a Sunday stroll after your hotel breakfast and before you catch your train home.

Check Availability for  Chicago London Theatre Breaks

** Chicago London Theatre Breaks via Show And Stay **

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Wicked is continuing to build after its most successful year ever and is bringing in not one but two new witches! Current witches Alexia Khadime (Elphaba) and Dianne Pilkington (Glinda) leave the show on a record breaking high note and will play their final performances on Saturday 27 March 2010. Bound to be a very emotional evening!
(If you want tickets for this one you must act fast – Click through to see if there are Wicked theatre breaks available for Alexia and Diane’s final performance. By the way there’s a Free Hotel Offer on weekday Wicked Theatre Breaks until the end of March)

Wicked

Rachel Tucker as Elphaba

I’m a big fan of Rachel Tucker. I thought she had a great voice when she was in I’d Do Anything and I absolutely loved her in We Will Rock You. She was playing Meat the night I saw her but I believe she made a great success of the lead role, Scaramouche, on the few occasions she got to play it. Rachel will join Wicked as the new Elphaba and I can’t wait to hear her sing “Defying Gravity”. The voice and the song should combine beautifully and give us yet another interpretation of a great standard. So as one Nancy (Jodie) bows out the West End will see another graduate of the I’d Do Anything programme take centre stage. Perhaps this will convince the critics that reality casting shows do actually uncover worthwhile talent. Don’t hold your breath!

Like Kerry Ellis, a previous much loved Elphaba, Rachel will bring her own loyal fan base to the show and no doubt to this post. Hi all

Oz Trivia – Rachel is no stranger to Oz having played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.

Louise Dearman as Glinda

Louise joins the cast of Wicked as Glinda. She’s been widely acclaimed in her lead role in the touring production of Evita. It will be interesting to see what she makes of the role of Glinda and how she stamps her own personality on it. Louise’s voice is described by her agents as: pure, melting soprano voice, with a surprisingly strong belt.
Having listened to a sample I have to agree, lovely! But don’t just rely on my judgment have a listen for yourself:

Book Wicked Theatre Breaks

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About London shows and hotel deals

London shows and hotel deals are usually offered as a package by the theatre break agencies, some of them will let you add in train tickets (usually at a considerable discount). You can also add a variety of extras including pre-theatre meals, sight seeing trips and entrance to many of the major London tourist attractions.

London Shows

You can choose from a huge number of London shows including first class musicals, serious plays, side-splitting comedies. If none of these take your fancy you can opt for ballets, operas and even concerts. Three of the most consistently popular London shows in the last year have all been musicals.

Wicked (London) has had a spectacular year with record box office takings. The story of what happened before Dorothy got to Oz goes from strength to strength and looks set to continue its run at the Apollo indefinitely.

Oliver has had an amazing first year and continues to be popular. If you want to see Jodie Prenger (I’d Do anything winner) as Nancy you need to go before the end of March. Those of you who wait for the summer will also get a treat as ex-Wicked star Kerry Ellis moves into the role of Nancy. Fagin is currently being played by Griff Rhys Jones.

We Will Rock You is a great show for rockers of all ages. The show is full of energy and the music of Queen meshes beautifully with Ben Elton’s witty plot line. I just loved We Will Rock you. It is a wonderful ‘feel good’ evening and a perfect and popular choice of show.

Hotel Deals

Show and Stay have a great hotel deal on at the moment. They are offering a free one night hotel stay in selected 3* hotels when you buy your tickets for a choice of 13 shows. The deal is available for Mondays to Thursdays only and runs until March 31st.

London shows and hotel deals are available all year round but special offers like this one are limited and tend to get snapped up fairly quickly. If you want to be sure of getting the show and dates you want you will need to act fast. With prices starting from only £45 per person and limited availability this offer will not hang around. Check now to see if your dates and show are available.

** Free Hotel Offer with London Shows and Hotel Deals **

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A Very Happy New Year for 2010 from Andy and Linda at the London Theatre Breaks blog.

We’re looking forward to another year of West End ins and outs, hits and flops, make or breaks and helping thousands of people to choose how best to have happy time in London by taking in a classic musical or play and staying in our fabulous capital city where there’s always something for everyone. To wrap up the year, here’s a repost of most of Linda’s 2009 review as published earlier on the Theatre Breaks magazine blog:

The West End Shows

In terms of shows one or two have closed early but the old favourites like We Will Rock You carry on. Avenue Q was saved from oblivion by popular demand and has moved to a new theatre. The Lion King is as popular as ever and proudly boasts that it is so well booked that it has NEVER released tickets to the reduced ticket agencies.

Some good shows reached the end of their natural life and wonderful though Spamalot was it really was time for it to say goodbye. It’s been replaced by Priscilla and that has been a fair swap. Carousel never really quite hit the spot and its closure wasn’t any great surprise. It was sad to see the end of Cabaret and a shame they couldn’t take a leaf out of Chicago’s book and find a constant stream of new familiar faces to keep us going back.  Joseph went too and no doubt was mourned by thousands of Lee Mead’s fans but it was another how that seemed ready to go. No doubt it will be back someday.

One show I thought should have done better was Spring Awakening, which I just loved. All that energy and a theatre full of young people the night we went. I felt positively ancient, and that’s a good thing! (honest!)

Oliver has of course been a total triumph with Jodie Prenger making a real name for herself. Who would have thought she’d still be there doing 8 shows a week nearly a year later? What a star. I saw her at West End live this year and she has a super voice and a lovely stage presence. She managed to upstage Christopher Biggins, to great comic effect and that takes some talent for comedy! I think we’ll see more of Jodie once she moves on but for now she seems happy where she is. She’s on her 3rd Fagin and this is the one I’d really like to see. I think Griff Reese Jones will make a great Fagin and be well worth the trip.

Hairspray has seen some major changes with the departure of Micheal Ball. Still Phil Jupitous is doing a grand job and Brain Connely was very well recieved in the part. I wonder how long Micheal will stay away, I’m sure I heard somewhere that he’s thinking of coming back to Edna. We hope!

Wicked is going from strength to strength and is the most popular musical at this witchy time of year. Kerry Ellis is just a distant memory now and Alexia Kadhim has made her own interpreation of Elphaba. I think she has a lovely voice, quite different to Kerry’s but wonderful all the same:

New year shows coming into the West End and available for theatre breaks include Legally Blonde which I was less than keen on when first announced. Since then I’ve had a good look at the videos on youtube and listened to the cast recordings and I might just change my mind. It might be fun and has the sort of casting that makes me want to see it.

What to say about Love Never dies (apart from “I can’t wait!!”)? Well it’s definitely going to be a huge event and it should be a spectacular in the best Andrew Lloyd Webber tradition. The Coney Island setting should give it a great atmosphere, you know how creepy fairgrounds can be. We’ve all seen Scoobydoo It’s got two faboulous stars in Sarah Boggess and Ramin Karimaloo (I’ve been doing this so long I can now spell these names without flinching!)

Have a wonderful 2010 everybody!

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Theatre Breaks Agents

Theatre breaks agencies come in many shapes but here at the London Theatre Breaks blog we like to work with three in particular. We get a small commission from each reader who books a theatre break through our links and that helps to fund our blog. The theatre breaks agents offer somewhat differing services and the best one for you depends on what you are looking for when you start searching for a theatre break package.

You need to decide what your priorities are first before you look at the various deals on offer because you are not really comparing like with like. (If you need help with this have a look at this post on our sister site Theatre Breaks Magazine.) The agencies specialise and offer various options, they often work with particular hotels or a particular level of ticket. Some agencies have offers on rail fares which you can bundle in with the cost of your tickets, other optional extras like meals can also be added. Often agencies offer discounts on London attractions when they are booked with your theatre break.

We only work with reputable agencies where we can be sure that not only will you get a good deal but that your tickets and hotel room will be honoured. Some of the other theatre breaks companies add lots of hidden extras, like booking fees, on to your final bill. We think this is not acceptable so we only recommend the following package deals:

Show and Stay London Theatre Breaks

Show and Stay is a long-established theatre package company. They are part of the larger Holiday Extras group and we have been working with them for the last 2-3 years. Feedback from customers has been very positive and we continue to recommend them. Show and Stay really specialise in getting you top quality tickets at a good price and combining them with a good choice of 3 or 4* hotels. They also offer a very good deal on rail tickets, with up to 40% discount as standard. Show and Stay often has the hot tickets that no one else has. For example when Jodie first appeared and Oliver! London was the hottest ticket in town, Show & Stay London was able to offer Saturday night, best seats, when there was no other way to get them and everyone else said the show was sold out.

Now despite what I’ve said about them offering top quality tickets don’t assume that Show and Stay only do expensive theatre breaks. Their breaks are very competitive. For example someone just booked a midweek evening at Oliver! and 1 night in a 3* hotel for 2 people for only £213.96.

Superbreak Theatre Breaks

Superbreak is where you go for bargains. They offer a range of ticket prices so if you don’t mind being in the Upper Circle you can get a very good price indeed. They have more limited availability sometimes, than Show and Stay but if you are looking for particular dates rather than a specific show they can be very good value. The hotels they work with are just as good as Show and Stay and are usually 3 or 4*.

Superbreak are a large company and they do all sorts of London breaks and breaks to other cities too. They are less specialised than Show and Stay but they still offer a good service. Their web site can be a bit harder to find your way around, as it is so large, but if you persevere you can definitely get some great deals.

TheatreBreaks.com

TheatreBreaks.com is a smaller company established thirty years ago. They’ve been online for over ten years. They have pretty good availability, work with good 3 and 4* hotels but where they really excel is in their personal touch. They are they people to go to if your needs are at all outside the ordinary. Maybe you want to do a large group with an odd number to see Dirty Dancing on a specific weekend. Perhaps you have limited mobility and need to know that your hotel, and your theatre seats, are fully accessible. They are the best people to help you. You just phone them up quoting your reference number from the website and they will go out of their way to make sure your problems are sorted out.

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London theatre packages come in a variety of shapes and sizes but they all have one thing in common.

They make delightful gifts!

Choosing presents for loved ones is never easy and when it’s for a much loved Mum and Dad it can be really hard. What can you get the couple who have everything? A giant food hamper perhaps? Well, maybe, but it’s just food. Might be, dare I say it, a little dull? After all your Mum is just going to add it to that already overstocked pantry and freezer and while your Dad might enjoy the bottle of malt whisky it doesn’t really show much thought does it?

London theatre packages are much more interesting and entertaining. First of all you get the fun of choosing what show you think they’ll enjoy. I’ve got some more advice about that in a minute. Then you can pick them a nice hotel, maybe throw in a pre-theatre dinner, and book their train journey as well. If there are a few of you sharing the expense you could add in an extra night and maybe one of those river cruises with dinner if it’s an extra special occasion.

By now you are probably thinking this is going to cost a fortune but theatre break packages for London are really quite good value at the moment. You can get weeknight tickets for Les Miserables and one night in a 3* London hotel for under £100 at the moment. Adding  an extra night only adds around £35 each! Dinner is around £15 – 20 per person. All very affordable really. And just think of the brownie points on Christmas morning!

London Theatre Packages

Choosing a show

• So how do you choose what they’d like to see? Sometimes it is obvious and easy to just choose their favourite show. If your parents are not quite so predictable I’d start with their music collection if I were you. Here’s some tips:
• Lots of classical stuff, some light opera, SuBo’s new CD = Les Miserables or just possibly Phantom of the Opera. If you are feeling adventurous book for Love Never Dies so they can brag to their friends about being the first to see it!
• Not much after 1965, except maybe some Shawadiwadi. Your Dad goes a bit funny when anyone mentions Olivia Newton John – they are going to love either Jersey Boys or Grease!
• Your Dad’s rock collection is rivaled only by your Mum’s passion for Freddie Mercury – has to be We Will Rock You
• Your Mum knows all the words to Dancing Queen and still has all her signed photos of Bjorn. Your Dad liked the film – Mamma Mia of course

I expect you get the idea by now. You could always surprise them and choose tickets to Chicago (still the sexiest show in town) or even Dirty Dancing. They’d have a great time at either whatever their musical taste. That’s the thing really. All the shows that are on in London are worth seeing. Oh and it’s not just musicals, you can get London theatre packages to see plays, opera and even ballets!

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Ever wondered how Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical came into being?

The show is based on the 1994 film, starring Terence Stamp, which was written and directed by Stephan Elliot. The film attacked the mythology of the heterosexual outback male, the ‘good ‘ocher’, like Crocodile Dundee. It showed these straight, white, Australian men  to be heavy drinkers suspicious of anything they don’t understand, violent, rude and vulgar. Their definitions of masculinity constrained and rigid. In the film the desert landscape provides an amazing, extremely natural backdrop to the  artificiality of the drag queens. One of the most powerful moments of the film shows the main characters, in full drag, climbing up King’s Canyon.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical brings  the same basic story to the West End stage.  But what happens to it without backdrop of the Australian desert and does it matter in the end?

Priscilla?

The Priscilla of the title isn’t a cast member as such but she is definitely becomes a character in the show. She is in fact a purpose-built VW bus. But this is a VW like no other you’ve ever seen before!

priscilla queen desert

5 little known facts about the amazing bus at the heart of the story.

Not just any old VW bus Priscilla forms an integral part of the stage set for the show.

Queen?

Although we all know that the bus is supposed to be the queen of the show she’s got some serious competition from the other stars of the show. Jason Donovan plays Tick who’s alter ego is drag queen Mitzi Del Bra. Tick agrees to travel to Alice Springs, in the heart of the Australian outback to do a show and invites outrageous fellow drag queen Adam, Felicia (Oliver Thornton) and recently bereaved, transsexual Bernadette (Tony Sheldon) to join him.  They travel in a beat up, old  VW bus which Adam christens Priscilla. Along the way they collect Bob, the mechanic, meet a variety of Australian characters (mostly in bars, see above!) and eventually reach Alice Springs where Tick is reconciled with his 8-year-old son Benjamin. Some find love, others understanding and all emerge stronger and better able to cope.  It’s hard to say who is ‘queen’ of the London production but Tony Sheldon’s performance as Bernadette  takes some beating.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Then there are those queens of disco, the Divas.The Divas are 3 first class singers who have been added to the stage show to get over the problem of miming. At several points in the show the three drag artistes mime as part of their stage shows, just like real drag acts would. To avoid the danger of the audience feeling the show was anything other than 100% live the idea of the 3 divas, described by Stephan Elliott the film’s writer/director, as ‘desert drag goddesses’, was born. The 3 divas sing and their songs are lip-synched simultaneously by the leads. The divas have to have amazingly strong disco voices that will stand up to the power of songs like I Will Survive and Downtown.

Not only that they have to deliver these show-stopping songs whilst while suspended high above the stage, supported by harnesses that run right across their abdominal muscles. It is quite incredible that they are able to belt out these powerful anthems in such a precarious position! Being suspended causes another problem for the divas. Any wild movements and the whole set will start to swing. All their actions while they are up there have to be concentrated on their arms from the elbow to the fingertips. The divas in London are currently played by Zoe Birkett, Kate Gillespie and Emma Lindars.

Desert?

Priscilla Queen desert

The staging of the show is supposed to evoke the Australian desert. This is mostly done with atmospheric lighting but it can’t really compete with the reality of the film. And why should it? This is a stage musical after all and we are there more for the music and the spectacle than any deep meaningful insights. The desert and the feeling of heat was such a big part of the original film because the outback has special cultural significance to Australians. This is perhaps less true  for a UK audience and anyway we’re far to busy bopping along to some disco classics to worry too much about anything deep and meaningful! Bring on the dancing cup cakes I say .

So there you have it, Priscilla, queen, desert, at the end of the day what matters most seems to be the celebration of the human spirit, love, energy and excitement of disco rather than anything too deep.

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Weekend theatre breaks in London

Weekend theatre breaks in London are a good way to fit in a mini holiday. You may not be able to afford the time or money for a full blown break but a weekend in London with a show can be enough to make you feel that you have actually had a holiday. It is all down to very careful planning.

Choose your travel times

You have to choose your travel times with care so that you make the most of your weekend.
If you decide to travel by rail you need to watch out for any planned engineering works that could add frustration especially to your return journey. These are often planned for Sundays so if you can take an extra day and travel back on Monday you can avoid the problem all together. Hotels often offer an extra night for a very reasonable amount and you get an extra day in London. See below for more about Sundays in the city. It would be a shame to spoil your relaxed mood with a disrupted homeward journey.
Luckily you can easily check using the trainline.com and find out if there is any work planned for your chosen dates. If there is then it might be best to re-think your dates or travel to London by car.

How many days are there in a weekend?

Friday

If you travel on Friday and return on Monday you can have 3 nights and 2 full days in London. This is ideal if you can manage it as for just 1 extra day off work you can turn a weekend into a mini-break. Travel on Friday afternoon and you can arrive at your hotel, freshen up and go out for a nice meal, or an evening’s entertainment.

Saturday

Then you have all day Saturday for shopping, galleries or what ever takes your fancy. After an early (5:30-6:30 ish) pre-theatre meal you can get to the theatre in plenty of time, pick up your tickets from the box office, have a relaxing drink and be settled ready for the performance.
Most shows finish around 10 – 10:30pm so after the show you will have time for a stroll round the West End, a light supper, a nightcap somewhere or even a club if  that’s what takes your fancy. Then make your way back to your hotel, which, if you were wise when you were booking, will be only a short walk away.

Sunday

London is a different place on a Sunday. The tourist ‘traps’ are less busy, especially in the morning. London isn’t a city that wakes up early on Sundays so if you are an early bird you can see the sights before most people are even awake. London is famous for its street markets and these are great fun on a Sunday morning. Try Covent Garden’s Jubilee Market or, if you are feeling adventurous, try Brick Lane or Columbia Rd Flower Market. There’s lots of street food available and most of it is very good, so lunch won’t be a problem.
After lunch you’ve got the luxury of a relaxing afternoon ahead of you. If you are into art you might try having a look at Tate Modern and if you are really energetic why not take the Tate to Tate ferry that runs between that and Tate Britain?  Or just have a stroll along the Southbank. There’s usually something going on and it’s a great spot for people watching. If the weather is not so good there is lots of indoor entertainment too, maybe even visit the TKTS booth in Leicester Square and fit in an extra show! More shows are doing matinees on Sundays so it is definitely worth checking.  You could even just find a good pub and settle in. Fullers pubs are quite traditional, have very nice real ale and are famous for their pies. If you are near Covent Garden you could try a real Cornish pub, complete with pasties and Cornish beer.

Monday morning

After the rush hour, and a good breakfast, you check out of your hotel for a leisurely journey home.
So you can see how weekend theatre breaks in London really can work for you as a mini holiday if you plan them carefully.

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Are you looking for more information about London weekend breaks by rail? That’s actually a very good starting point because you’ve already made the best decision as far as transport goes for arriving in London. Go by train and you’ll not have to be worrying about things like car parking, how to pay the congestion charge or long motor way traffic jams holding up coach journeys. The fast inter city trains are also the quickest way to get from most UK cities into one of the central London mainline stations.

London Breaks by Rail - Express Routes

Weekend breaks can be for a West-end theatre show on any Friday, Saturday or Sunday night combined with a hotel stay of one night or more, including the show date. The most popular break tends to be a one-nighter including the big Saturday night out, but getting away early on a Friday makes a lot of sense too. Traveling on a Friday and Saturday gives a clear run through but Sundays can be fine for getting home too, depending on which rail line takes you back. All I’m saying is, check for regular Sunday engineering works if the service that relays between your city and London is one that may be prone to scheduled maintenance on a Sunday.

Longer Weekend Breaks

If your weekend break means going home on a Saturday of course, the traditional weekend has only just begun but then again I’ve noticed that for some people around here, the weekend definitely starts to ramp up on a Thursday night! London can be a very pleasant play to stay on a Sunday with less of a hurried atmosphere but still plenty of things to see and do so staying on for the whole weekend and then booking to get back on a Monday during the daytime can make for an extremely satisfying London weekend rail break, more like a mini holiday really. You could even make it a three or four night stay with the weekend theatre trip included, especially worthwhile if you have a long distance rail journey from one of the smaller rail networks that lie beyond the core inter city services.

London Shows for Weekend Theatre Breaks

One of the advantages with buying a theatre breaks package is that you can get good tickets for any of the more popular shows, even on a busy Friday or Saturday night. I tried to get an impulse ticket from the famous half price ticket booth the other day and after a lot of waiting around I came away without making a purchase. That was because the shows on offer didn’t include two that I was most interested in, and because the prices offered are not anything like half price at all.

So supposing you’ve always wanted to grab a friend and go and see Hairspray, Dirty Dancing or Sister Act on a Saturday night but couldn’t find any available tickets except from the disreputable touts and so-called discount kiosks, well the answer is to do just a little bit of forward planning and organise a weekend break in London for just a few weeks down the line, then you can get on with life knowing there’s a fantastic treat in store for you to look forward to.

London weekend breaks by rail are also perfect for really special occasions such as a big anniversary or celebration. Never mind seeing Les Miserables from the back of the upper circle, with theatre breaks packages it’s often possible to get best available seats with a competitive price guarantee, because the tour agents buy blocks of tickets way in advance and can therefore hold the best seats open for people who are booking the whole London weekend theatre package thing with the hotel stay and return rail tickets included.

This is just one suggestion, but supposing you were a big fan of the Phantom of The Opera having seen it many years ago, and fancied repeating the experience in today’s West End. This gives you two possible shows for London Weekend breaks by rail because the new show with the Phantom opens in March 2010 and it’s going to be one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biggest shows ever, called “Love Never Dies“. By booking the rail tickets well in advance in combination with London weekend breaks, (that’s the show and hotel stay), you get the full discount on the rail tickets which can mean as much as a 70% saving off the regular return saver.

If it appears as if the only shows on in London are the big musicals then that’s certainly not the case. There are always a number of serious plays also on in the West end, usually for shorter runs but not always, and these are also available for London weekend breaks by rail. In 2010 there will be more Shakespeare, Pinter and Becket as well as modern American playwrights, and some comedy plays too.

So you’ve decided very sensibly to opt for London weekend breaks by rail, thought about which show you’d both like to see, and maybe opted for a Friday night or Saturday theatre ticket depending which suits you best and considered the best time and day for homewards travel. All that’s left is to balance the convenience of a central London hotel with the economy of staying a little further out, but there is always a good selection of options available when booking London weekend theatre breaks. Now let me see, what else is there to worry about?

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